4 Mill Street, Cushendall, Co.Antrim

4 Mill Street, Cushendall, County Antrim

A terraced, three-storey, two-bay rendered building, constructed prior to 1859 and possibly around 1830, originally forming a single structure with the adjoining No. 2 Mill Street next door. It sits prominently close to Cushendall's central crossroads, facing Turnly's Tower, and forms part of a continuous terrace of street-fronted buildings lining the southeast side of Mill Street.

Architectural Description

The building is L-shaped on plan, facing northwest along the southeast side of Mill Street, with a small enclosed rear yard. The roof is pitched natural slate with black clay ridge tiles, and there is a rendered chimneystack with terracotta pots to the northeast. Rainwater goods are cast iron throughout, including guttering on iron drive-through brackets, a cast-iron hopper, and cast-iron downpipes. The external walls are finished in painted ruled-and-lined render. Window openings are square-headed with painted masonry sills; the upper-floor windows are replacement top-hung timber casements.

The ground floor is dominated by an asymmetrical traditional shopfront spanning the full width of the two-bay front elevation. It comprises a large fixed-pane display window, an off-centre door opening with a double-leaf glazed timber door, and a further display window to the left. The whole shopfront is framed by fluted pilasters on plinth blocks and surmounted by a painted fascia bearing individual raised lettering reading "D. KEARNEY. FLESHER", beneath a dentilated cornice flanked by scrolled console brackets. This shopfront is considered one of the finest traditional shopfronts in the village and makes a significant contribution to the historic character of Mill Street.

To the northeast the building abuts No. 2 Mill Street, and to the southwest it abuts No. 6 Mill Street. The rear elevation is largely obscured by the rear return, and the exposed section is finished in rough-cast cement render with replacement hardwood top-hung windows. There is a two-storey rear return with timber bargeboards, and beyond it a single-storey lean-to with a tiled roof and timber bargeboards; both returns are finished in rough-cast cement render.

Historical Background

The majority of the two- and three-storey buildings along Mill Street were erected in the first half of the 19th century by the Turnly family. Francis Turnly, the proprietor of Cushendall, had travelled to China in 1796, where he accumulated a fortune of around £75,000. In 1801 he used this money to purchase the estate of Newtownglens from the Richardson family for £24,000, subsequently renaming the settlement Cushendall. At the time of purchase the village consisted of little more than a number of insignificant cabins, a mill, and a bridge. As the number of tourists travelling through the area on the way to the Giant's Causeway increased, Turnly — described by the architectural historian C. E. B. Brett as an eccentric character who "effected extraordinary improvements in buildings and roads on his property" — developed the village into a coastal resort, with the erection of hotels and numerous commercial properties.

No. 4 Mill Street originally formed part of the adjoining No. 2 Mill Street, which was built for John Hamilton, a local farmer. The combined building may have been included in the Townland Valuations of 1834, though it is difficult to identify specific structures in that source due to the loss of the accompanying Townland Valuation Town Plan for Cushendall. Nos. 2–4 Mill Street were first recorded with certainty in Griffith's Valuation of 1859, which valued the building at £20 and noted that it was owned by the Turnly family. The two properties continued to be recorded as a single structure until 1892, when the Annual Revisions divided them into the current two buildings, setting the total rateable value of No. 4 at £8. At that point the property was leased by the Turnly family to Dr. John Fogarty, the local dispensary medical doctor. Fogarty remained at No. 4 until around 1897, when the building was briefly occupied by James Delargy, recorded in the Ulster Town Directories as the proprietor of the Cushendall Hotel.

Despite the 1892 division, the 1911 Census of Ireland continued to record Nos. 2–4 Mill Street as a single property. That year the census recorded Patrick Duffy, a Royal Irish Constabulary pensioner, as the occupant, describing the combined property as a first-class dwelling consisting of ten rooms with a piggery, fowl house, and potato house among the rear outbuildings.

Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (covering the period 1936–57) the value of No. 4 was increased to £18. The valuer noted that the dwelling and ground-floor shop were occupied by a Mr. James Mullan until 1953, when Daniel Kearney, a local butcher and flesher, took possession. The Kearney family also occupied the adjoining No. 2 Mill Street and purchased both properties outright from the Turnly estate in 1967. Under the Second General Revaluation (1956–72) the total rateable value stood at £27.

In 1972 the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society described Mill Street as "an outstandingly good street by Ulster standards; there is almost nothing to jar the eye … this street demands, and deserves, the most careful and sensitive consideration of any change of any kind." The buildings along Mill Street were subsequently included in the Cushendall Conservation Area in 1975 — only the second conservation area to be designated in the province at that time, described as "testimony itself to the special qualities of the village." That same year Cushendall was chosen as one of Northern Ireland's four pilot schemes for conservation during the European Architectural Heritage Year. No. 4 Mill Street was listed in 1976.

Alterations

The building underwent extensive renovation around 1991, including the demolition and reconstruction of its rear return and alteration of the original shopfront. The shopfront was widened by removing an entrance door that had originally led to the upper floors of the building. The original timber sliding sash windows have also been lost and replaced, and internal historic detailing has been removed. Despite these changes, No. 4 continues to retain a traditional shopfront of notable quality, and at the time of the most recent survey was still in use as a family-run butcher's shop.